The Many Minds of Namikaze Naruto
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any other shows, books, movies (Etc. Etc.) that you may or may not associate with this fan fiction. If I did, I wouldn't be here writing fan fictions, now would I?
Kyuubi's thought-speech
Uryuu's thought-speech
*Ranma's thought-speech*
*Lelouch's thought-speech*
*Gambit's thought-speech*
(New Character thought-speech): Not the character summoned but not introduced during the last chapter, the other one.
Thoughts
(Author/Narrator Commentary)
*He can't help her.*
Naruto swore yet again and grabbed for another scroll. Kataki grabbed his arm. "Stop it. If you keep this up you'll die of chakra exhaustion, and it's not helping her, and it's certainly not helping whoever you just pulled out of their world. Take her to the tower; they'll likely have medics there who can help her. This is a dangerous test after all."
Naruto closed his eyes. After a moment he dropped the scroll. "Fine. You get the supplies; I'll bring her to the tower." Naruto left the bag lying there and carefully picked up Sakura before running toward the tower as rapidly as he could.
Sakura was being attended to by a medic Nin Iruka had retrieved after he'd appeared out of the scrolls. Naruto was pacing restlessly. Had he made it in time?
Calm down. You did what you could; it's up to them now.
I can't just stop worrying. She's my friend. She could die.
Naruto, the medical techniques here are far more effective than what we have in my world, and I've seen people survive worse. She'll be fine. For now…You need to come in here.
Naruto looked around. No one was there. If anyone came in, they'd just assume he'd exhausted himself. So, he lay back against the wall and sank into his mindscape.
When Naruto's vision returns to him he sees a man wearing a black tank top shirt and some type of blue-ish pants Naruto wouldn't have recognized if not for Uryuu's memories…jeans. His hair was short and dark, with an obvious five o'clock shadow on his face. His face was contorted in obvious anger. "Why am I here? What have you done to me?"
Naruto frowned. "I've summoned you here because I was trying to save a friend's life. I'm sorry. If I could return you now, I would."
"What have you done to my abilities?"
Naruto blinked. "Abilities? I haven't done anything to you except summon you, but you can't use abilities on me because we are inside my mindscape."
The man scowls. "How did you trap me here?"
So Naruto explained, starting with simple introductions, then explaining how he'd created the technique, and finally why he'd ended up summoning him.
"So what's your story?"
The man has calmed down. "My name is Gabriel Sylar. I am…evolved. I have many abilities that I have…collected. I can…naturally understand how things work, and can take other's abilities for my own by altering my body to match their mutations."
Naruto gaped. "Can you use your ability for other things? Or does it only work on understanding abilities?"
"In a…past life, I used my talent to understand and repair watches. It works for understanding the mechanics of how whatever I examine works, how to repair, how to alter, and how to undo or duplicate it."
Uryuu coughed. "Naruto…if I may speak to you for a moment."
The two separated themselves slightly. "This man is dangerous and unpredictable. He was belligerent and violent when he arrived, but that could be a symptom of the situation. From how he talks though…he's hiding something. He seemed to be trying to attack us with his abilities, but nothing ever happened. I think his abilities—at least the duplicated ones—did not transfer, because they are not naturally part of him. None of us can harm you, but nothing so far has stopped attacks on each other. If his original ability is intact however…he could figure out how to complete the summoning."
Naruto frowned. "So…if so…we should make him a deal. HE doesn't seem to want to cooperate on his own."
Naruto turned back around and approached Sylar. "Alright…I'm going to let you into the real world. If you'll agree to help me…fix…the technique I used to bring you here, and are successful, I'll send you back. Without your help, I may not be able to return you for months or even at all. I think though, that you'll be able to correct my mistakes and allow me to undo the summoning."
Sylar pauses. "Fine."
Naruto nods. "Alright. You'll be able to take over one of my clones once I return to the real world. Just go down the tunnel"
Naruto and several clones slipped away to an empty room, leaving one clone to wait for Sakura in case something happened. A few minutes later, Ranma, Lelouch, Uryuu, Naruto, and Gambit surrounded Sylar, who is kneeling in front of four scrolls spread out on the floor. He is examining one of the two that aren't blank. His eyes fill with realization, and he begins to draw.
The four scrolls are down to two. One is still blank; the first is covered with symbols. The three pointed shape of the original seal is now four pointed, symmetrical in two directions. Sylar lays the first scroll down on the floor and picks up the blank one instead.
About an hour had passed. Sylar had the last scroll laid out across the floor. This one was six pointed, each symbol appearing twice, directly across from each other. He sets everything aside but the two originally empty scrolls, which he opens. He points at the first. "This seal should achieve the same thing as your own, but do it more effectively. You should have more control, and use less of your energy. The second one will summon the body of one of us. From what I read and saw, you can then unsummon as if we were your own normal summonings."
Naruto grins. "That's perfect."
Lelouch frowns. "How will we know it works? We have no way of knowing if the first person is returned safely to their world."
Uryuu speaks up. "We can send one of us back, and then Naruto can resummon them after a short while."
"But I don't know if I can target specific people yet, or at all. I don't want to summon anyone new until I know I can send them back either, so I can't really test that."
"Send me. We'll just have to take the risk." Uryuu didn't really sound worried.
Naruto frowned. "I think we should just…"
"No. It's fine. I'll go, and if it's safe, you can return anyone else who wants it home. You can even give Ranma what you promised him."
Naruto sighs in defeat. "If you insist, but…I don't want anything t…"
"Nothing's going to happen. The theory is sound; we just weren't able to figure out how to return us to our bodies. He did that."
Most of the others were silent. Naruto nods. "Fine. But before that, I want to duplicate these scrolls."
Naruto had the Body Summoning Scroll in front of him on the floor. He bit his thumb and pressed it against the seal, then placed his palm flat and channeled his chakra, focusing on Uryuu.
It worked. At least he thought it worked. Instead of Uryuu standing across the room, he was standing directly in front of Naruto, where the scroll was. "As I expected" Uryuu pushed up his glasses. "My mind was pulled to my body right away. It seems to have worked. Well then…goodbye." A second later, before Naruto could speak again, Uryuu vanished in a puff of smoke with a slight popping sound. Naruto looked around at the others. Lelouch was pacing. Ranma seemed worried but calm. Gambit was idly shuffling a deck of cards in his hands. Sylar seemed the least concerned.
Is it confidence in his ability, or just indifference, I wonder?
Given his attitude before you met him, probably both. He seems arrogant as well as uncaring.
Well…nothing more to do now but wait.
About an hour later Naruto set up to cast the summoning technique again. He'd determined he'd give Uryuu about an hour in order to ensure he could figure out what the situation was in his own world. Whether he'd just vanished entirely, if his body had collapsed and gone unconscious while he was gone, or what.
Of course, that assumed he was still alive.
Naruto spread out one of the copies of the four point seal scroll and once again channeled his chakra, trying to focus on summoning Uryuu. There was a puff of smoke, the seal glowed momentarily, and Naruto sighed. It was time to find out if it had worked.
A sudden burst of information changed that. His shadow clone had dispelled itself. Sakura was stable, but would probably be unconscious for the rest of the day at least.
Thank Kami, she's ok.
With that burden gone, Naruto lay back against the wall and once again sank into his mindscape.
The process had become mundane by now…he was too used to it…Naruto headed to where he knew the new summon would appear. There wasn't a group gathered this time…not even Kataki. She was out in the real world…had to keep up appearances after all. Naruto's eyes scanned the area. One person stood there…and Naruto recognized him instantly. He'd spent years in his mindscape reliving Uryuu's life after all…
He wore a black robe-like outfit, and had a large sword strapped to his back, orange hair, and sandals. Kurosaki Ichigo.
Naruto frowned…so…he'd managed to target the right dimension…but not the right person. "Ichigo!"
The Shinigami turned around to face him. "Who are you and how do you know who I am? And where am I?"
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I'm a ninja, and I know who you are because of Uryuu Ishida. You are inside my mindscape because I summoned you here from your dimension with a summoning technique. I wasn't trying to summon you, I was trying to summon Uryuu…but I haven't quite perfected the technique yet. I summoned Uryuu first…before I knew how to send people back. I sent him back about an hour ago. I was trying to bring him back to confirm it worked."
Ichigo blinked. "I'm inside your mind? Weird…But…Uryuu hasn't been anywhere recently…He was with us the whole time…" Ichigo starts to reach for his sword's handle.
"It would seem that the timelines of different dimensions do not necessarily line up." Lelouch was leaning against a nearby wall.
Ichigo turned to look at Lelouch for a moment, then shrugged. "And who are you?"
"Lelouch Lamperouge. You actually believe this?" Lelouch had an eyebrow raised.
Ichigo shrugged again. "This isn't the first thing this crazy to happen in my life, believe me...It's not the first time I've been to another dimension either…"
Naruto laughed. "Sounds familiar…you aren't the first one here who's gone through an unusual life."
Ichigo nods and drops his hand away from his sword. "What I want to know though, is what happens now."
"Now that I know Uryuu was safely returned home, I'll send back anyone who wants to leave."
"Anyone? Home many people are here? And why are you summoning them in the first place?"
Naruto concentrated for a moment, and the town around them vanished, becoming an empty white expanse, except in two places. The first was where the mental body of the Kyuubi, representing the sealed chakra and power, still lay, in its cage, off in the distance. The second was behind Naruto, two dark tunnels that led to the outside world, via his mind or one of his clones. In varying places around where the town had been, Ichigo now saw Gambit, Ranma, Sylar and Lelouch standing, in addition to Naruto himself. "Just four others left. As to why I would summon them…the first time I was stupid and careless…I was just experimenting, trying to make myself a stronger ninja. I continued from there for two reasons. I wanted to perfect the technique so that I could return Uryuu to his…your…world. I also found out that I can borrow abilities from, and be taught by, those I summon. I've tried to help them how I could in return, but…without a way to send them home most just helped me so I'd be sure to stay alive long enough to finish the technique…"
Ichigo frowned. "So you'll want my help? To do what?"
"If you want, I'll send you back when I send the others…you shouldn't lose any time in your world, you said Uryuu was there the whole time…"
The others had gathered by now. Naruto noticed that sometime while he'd been speaking, Kataki had joined him.
"Kid…it occurs to me that there may be something…special…about this one…Ichigo, right? You aren't like everyone else here. You don't use your human body to fight. Your body wasn't summoned with you, like everyone else, but…that's natural for a Soul Reaper…the mind and spirit provide the power. It's entirely possible that Ichigo can…manifest without a clone, and train himself here without his work being lost in his own world."
Ichigo looked at Kataki, then Naruto, in confusion. "You said that there were only four more…who is this? And what is she talking about, a clone?"
Naruto sighed. "I didn't summon her. Kataki is…the spirit of…well…look behind you."
Ichigo did, spotting the cage off in the distance. "What the hell is that?!"
"When I was a baby, the Fourth Hokage, my village leader, sealed a demon—the Kyuubi no Kitsune—inside of me after it attacked our village and killed a lot of people. He couldn't kill it…so he sacrificed his life to have it sealed away. I found out later that the demon wasn't truly evil, and had attacked our village because it was being controlled. I freed the spirit of Kyuubi and allowed it to take control of one of my shadow clones, which is a technique I have that allows me to make copies of myself, but they can generally only survive a single solid hit. In exchange, Kyuubi gave me the ability to heal, granted me access to its power, and granted me the ability to change my appearance. That spirit took on a human name and form, and the result is Kataki here. I've been hated my whole life, and even had people try to kill me, because everyone is terrified of the demon sealed inside me…I've spent most of my life trying to be acknowledged for who I am, instead of what happened to me as a child…to prove I can become a good ninja, and become the next Hokage!"
Ichigo looked somber. "A demon…" He glanced around at the group again. "Alright…I'll help you. I have to get stronger to beat Aizen…and if I can train here…then it may give me more time before I have to face him."
Naruto grinned. "Alright then…let's get started."
Hey guys, I know it's been way too long since my last update. I'm not going to make excuses besides: I have a life, I'm in college, and I'm busy with other things too. I SHOULD start updating more regularly soon, but no promises. However, the more feedback I get, the more it reminds me to take the time to write, so, as always…R&R.
